Archive for January, 2014

What an epic view as two GPS devices simultaneously pumping data back to data server and the track displayed back on the map. These locations data will be displayed as a zig-zagging track. Any comments, what you guys called this situation?

Home surveillance systems are incredibly expensive, but if you’re looking for more of a DIY approach, Instructables user Scavix shows off how to build your own small-scale system for about $120 using a Raspberry Pi.

Scavix’s system uses a Raspberry Pi, the Raspberry Pi camera module, some housing for that camera, and a few other smaller pieces. After some set up, the end result is a home security system that can detect motion, broadcast a live stream, and more. It’s a surprisingly powerful system all things considered and it’s cheap enough that you can set up a few of them if you like.

Sticking a GPS module in a project has been a common occurrence for a while now, whether it be for a reverse geocache or for a drone telemetry system. These GPS modules are expensive, though, and they only listen in on GPS satellites – not the Russian GLONASS satellites or the Chinese Beidou satellites. NavSpark has the capability to listen to all these positioning systems, all while being an Arduino-compatible board that costs about $20.

Inside the NavSpark is a 32-bit microcontroller core (no, not ARM. LEON) with 1 MB of Flash 212kB of RAM, and a whole lot of horsepower. Tacked onto this core is a GPS unit that’s capable of listening in on GPS, GPS and GLONASS, or GPS and Beidou signals.

On paper, it’s an extremely impressive board for any application that needs any sort of global positioning and a powerful microcontroller. There’s also the option of using two of these boards and active antennas to capture carrier phase information, bringing the accuracy of this setup down to a few centimeters. Very cool, indeed.